Don’t Say Anything

It took Adam only a couple days to figure out he loved Iris, and only two years to take her out on a date. She was everything, plain and simple. Iris had known Adam for over two years and had never known anyone she could open up to so honestly. She trusted him, plain and simple.

Adam sat in Iris’ extra long flatbed truck. She had parked it behind the closed liquor store, the owner asleep in the apartment above it. The backdoor’s light fixture beamed down into the cab like a spotlight, making sure Adam took full notice of Iris’ naked stomach as she worked under the dash beneath him.

She held her hand out in the air wanting the screwdriver again. Adam hesitated to give it, wondering if she might come out if he teased her long enough. Iris flexed her fingers like the last dying twitch of a daddy long leg and Adam handed her the tool. She took it without hesitation and after a moment gave Adam the thumbs up to turn the key in the ignition to “ready”. He looked to see if she had fixed the electronics on the dashboard. After a moment of lighting up brilliantly, they flickered and died. Iris shifted so she could see out. Adam shook his head and before he could give his opinion she disappeared back into the darkness. Adam bit on his tongue and waited for the next thing he could do to help.

He was sure this wasn’t the right time to tell her what he was thinking, wasn’t it?

Iris cursed and shifted the small flashlight between her teeth to look at the tangled mass of wires in front of her. She hated the metallic taste it had. It reminded her too much of blood and home. She began to work even faster. She had to fix this before her father found out. She felt her eyes wanting to water and sucked in the liquid coming out her nose.  She felt the terror absorb her and suppressed the urge to shake.

Instead, before she knew what was happening she felt the truck shake as Adam slid next to her. They locked eyes and wondered who would speak first.